This type of apparatus is well known: within the interior of a separation chamber for separating the juice, a pressing screw, typically of ogival shaped form, is driven in rotation by an appropriate electric motor, whose mechanical outlet is coupled to the base of the screw, while food, introduced from the top of the chamber via an inlet chute directed downwards, are, under the action of the screw, gradually pushed down towards the bottom and pressed against the interior surface of the bottom of the chamber. The juice is collected for consumption thereof by the user, whereas separately, pressed residues of food are removed. The interesting advantage of this type of apparatus is the ability to obtain quality juice, while largely preserving their taste and organoleptic properties. Examples of such type of apparatus are provided, among other documents, in WO-A-2010/007290.
One of the technical limitations of this type of device is the maximum size of food that can be pressed. Indeed, in order for the pressing screw to be able to “catch” these foods and begin to drive them down towards the bottom so as to press them, it is necessary for a given diameter of the screw, for these foods to be of sufficiently small dimensions, with the maximum size of these food units to typically be less than the largest radius of the pressing screw. The user is then often forced to cut the food into pieces before introducing them into the apparatus. For example, the introduction of a whole apple is impossible.
In order to work around this problem, the document WO-A-2010/007290, by way of the embodiments illustrated in its FIGS. 1-5, proposed to arrange, between the outlet of the inlet chute and a lower portion of the pressing screw, a food fragmentation member, which consists of a cutting edge or a cutting blade and which is carried by an upper portion of the screw: as a result of the rotation of the screw, this cutting edge or blade sweeps the outlet of the chute, in such manner that the food coming out of the chute gets cut into two units. The operational execution of such a food cutting process, however, poses practical difficulties. In order to effectively cut a food item, especially one having a form shape that is close to a sphere and/or having a certain surface hardness, such as an apple, it is necessary to hold in position the food item when the cutting edge or cutting blade is applied to this food item: in WO-A-2010/007290, this holding in position is brought about by a rotational blocking member provided in the chute, as well as by a pusher that the user must push in the chute and hold pressed against the food item in order to prevent it from returning back up into the chute during application of the cutting edge or cutting blade on the food item. This locking member and this pusher, that are essential to the operation of the apparatus of WO-A-2010/007290, constitute operating constraints. Moreover, given the fact that the food is fragmented into two units cut up cleanly, there is still the likelihood of the largest of these units having a dimension still too large for it to be “caught” by the pressing screw, with the potential drawback of remaining stuck at the top of the screw, in particular when the food item has a form shape that is close to a sphere and/or has a certain surface hardness, such as an apple.